LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 22 - The Washington Nationals lost this weekend series’ rubber match to the Dodgers on Sunday afternoon. Michael Soroka performed well, but the bullpen and lineup could not support him.

Soroka took the bump, trying to give his team the best possible shot at a series win after an 11-game losing streak. He struck out two huge names in a 1-2-3 first in Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, a brief glimpse of what was to come. He also threw a 1-2-3 second, and recorded two outs in the third before allowing a walk. Soroka struck out Ohtani again to get out of it, and he punched out two more hitters in the 1-2-3 fourth. He only allowed his first hit in the fifth after he got two more “K’s”, a double to Hyeseong Kim. Another strikeout ended the fifth inning, his 10th of the game. The sixth inning was where the wheels fell off, as another double and a walk led off the inning. Soroka induced a pop-up before hitting Freeman with a pitch, and Dave Martinez had seen enough. In a controversial move with the bases loaded, he brought in lefty Jose A. Ferrer, who had just recorded five outs last night. Ferrer immediately surrendered a grand slam to Max Muncy, so the three runners on base were charged to Soroka.

Ferrer got out of the inning with just that homer allowed, but the effects of it were seen for the rest of the afternoon. Ryan Loutos entered for the seventh and allowed six runs (five earned) on four hits while recording no outs, and the game was lost from there. Cole Henry and Jackson Rutledge combined to allow three runs off of home runs, and while they were in garbage time, they served to further humiliate the Nationals, who had the lead into the sixth inning. Of note, the only pitcher for Washington to depart with an ERA less than 5.00 was Henry, at 3.81.

Offensively, the Nationals saw mixed results today. They struggled to take advantage of mistakes from the Dodgers in the first two innings, but struck big in the third. With two outs, James Wood walked, Luis Garcia Jr. singled, and Nathaniel Lowe homered to give Washington an early lead. There were a couple of occasional hits here and there, but the Nationals struggled to get anything going until Kiké Hernandez (yes, the postion player) came in to pitch the ninth. Garcia Jr., Lowe, Brady House, and Amed Rosario drove in runs in the frame, off of Hernandez and Alex Vesia, who relieved him. The Nationals ultimately fell 13-7, but it was encouraging that the team battled both late and early. The question now becomes, how can they hit that well in the middle innings?

The Nationals will travel to San Diego tonight, as they prepare for a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday series with the Padres. San Diego have not yet announced pitchers, but we know that Washington will send Mitchell Parker to the mound tomorrow night. The games will be at 9:40 PM on Monday and Tuesday, with a 4:10 Wednesday start time. From there, the Nationals will head to Anaheim for next weekend’s matchups.